P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #387
Happy Birthday Kim!
my story 🚀
fun facts 🙌
California woman catches mail thief with an Apple AirTag. She was sick of her mail being stolen, so she shipped herself a package with tracking device and waited to see where it ended up. Then the called the cops. Color me surprised that the cops actually did something about it. Way to go, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office! ~ learn more
Did you know SodaStream bottles expire? It’s because they’re not just bottles, they are also pressure vessels. I tried to put our old SodaStream back into service this week only to discover that the bottles expired almost a decade ago and no longer work right. ~ learn more
Gelatinous balls in Minnesota lakes and rivers. “What folks are likely seeing are colonies of bryozoans, says DNR aquatic invertebrate biologist Gary Montz. These microscopic animals, sometimes referred to as moss animals, make jellylike tubes and attach themselves to sticks, rocks, and other submerged objects. They connect their tubes together into colonies that can be as big as a volleyball. The animals themselves live in the tubes and extend their tentacles out to capture even smaller microscopic organisms for food.” ~ learn more
A detailed guide to corrugated board grades. “Find out more about the key component of your corrugated packaging – and how it influences everything from packaging costs to performance.” ~ learn more
oh, austin 🤠
Hyatt buying the cool South Congress hotels. Also, they’ll be getting Jo’s Coffee as part of the deal. “Hyatt Hotels Corp. will likely take the reins soon of some of Austin’s trendiest boutique hotels, including the often star-studded Hotel Saint Cecilia, the posh Hotel San José and the Old Austin icon known only as Austin Motel.” ~ learn more
tech, startups, internet ⚡
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy celebrates Amazon Q. This is their GenAI assistant for software development. “The average time to upgrade an application to Java 17 plummeted from what’s typically 50 developer-days to just a few hours. We estimate this has saved us the equivalent of 4,500 developer-years of work (yes, that number is crazy but, real).” ~ learn more
Google’s new Pixel phone has impressive AI features. The photo editing especially impresses me. One example is that you can take a photo of a group of your friends, then swap positions and have a friend capture you into the same photo. ~ learn more
Driverless Waymo cars still honking all night. “Every day, Waymo’s driverless autonomous vehicles gather in the parking lot on 2nd and Harrison streets to park between rides and recharge. Periodically, the high-tech vehicles start honking at each other.” I just saw a guy in Austin getting out of one of these cars, and he said they’ll be launching soon. I’m excited to try! I was so close to trying Cruise last year, but they shut down the day before I went to try. ~ learn more
Telehealth startups merge to lower cash burn. LetsGetChecked is buying Truepill for $525 million, mostly stock. “Both companies are burning tons of cash, according to internal financial documents, so the goal is to create a stronger business by closing the patient data loop.” ~ learn more
better doing 🎯
Small investors lead to big investors. “Let’s say you’re raising a $2 million seed round. At first glance, talking to a guy who writes $5,000 checks seems like a waste of time. I’d need about a billion of those to fill my round, right? But this ignores how fundraising actually works. Networks are everything, and the small investors help you penetrate that network.” ~ learn more
Kids make you a bigger target. “This is terrifying. As Ben Franklin noted, the bigger your family, the broader the mark you are for sorrow. He’s not wrong. We’ve got multiple hearts running out around outside our body, and those kids just aren’t the safest or the smartest.” ~ learn more
to your health ⚕
US agency links high fluoride exposure to lower IQ in kids. “The report determined children have lower IQs after being exposed to high levels of fluoride after reviewing epidemiology studies in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico.” ~ learn more
The case for the physical clinic. “Founders shouldn’t write off clinics simply because they seem expensive to run. If a clinic is indicated as the optimal way to deliver care for that patient population, there are creative ways to build and operate them. We’ll talk through some of those in this piece.” ~ learn more
retail therapy 💸
FTC says no more fake reviews, please. “The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has finalized its rules to combat fake reviews and testimonials, including those generated by A.I., by prohibiting their sale or purchase. The rule will also allow the commission to seek civil penalties against knowing violators.” ~ learn more
under the microscope 🔬
New study identifies two rapid periods of aging around 44 and 60 years. “A new Stanford Medicine study shows that many of our molecules and microorganisms dramatically rise and fall in number during our 40s and 60s.” ~ learn more
Metabolites in gut bacteria linked with Alzheimer’s Disease. “Once again, human gut microbiota are being linked to the progression of a chronic ailment. Using artificial intelligence (AI), researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute found that “metabolites produced by bacteria in the gut” may influence the course of a patient’s Alzheimer’s disease, according to a news release.” ~ learn more
teaching the kids 👩🏫
Undergraduate admissions in the wake of the 2023 Supreme Court ruling. MIT’s new class is racially much different from its past classes (way fewer black students, more asian students). Their Dean of Admissions shares his perspective in this post. His point of view is that, “this cohort is no more or less prepared to excel in our curriculum than other recent classes that were more broadly diverse.” ~ learn more
profiles of people 🚶
Alex Karp, the Palantir cofounder. “So how did a daydreaming doctoral student in German philosophy wind up leading a shadowy data analytics firm that has become a major American defense contractor, one that works with spy services as it charts the future of autonomous warfare?”~ learn more